Grays Executive Search, a boutique search and selection consultancy, has been launched with the aim of serving the high-end recruitment market for board level and senior executives in the UK and Mainland Europe.

Part of the recruitment and facilities management service provider Cordant Group, Grays Executive Search is based at the Kings Cross redevelopment in London and is led by Simon Bell, who has had an 18-year career in top-level recruitment, including a three-year stint as managing director of Michael Page’s executive search arm, Page Executive. He has already recruited two head-hunters into his team and plans to grow staff numbers further.

Top of Grays' initial priorities will be to make inroads into the finance and accountancy, industrial and public sectors.

Simon Bell, Managing Director, commented: “There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors in the executive search market. However, it comes down to offering the highest possible service levels that give clients the best chance of finding the ideal candidate for their role in a time-efficient manner.

“We will go out of our way to understand our clients’ real needs, to help them think laterally about the type of people that could add value to their organisation and think creatively about strategies to find the right people for those organisations.

“We will be leveraging our considerable experience and contacts amongst both active and passive candidates. We will offer an excellent service to candidates through a management development programme, whereby they can get career guidance and counselling, and we will monitor their progress and mentor them after their placement and beyond.”